Official World Cup Discussion Thread (No Spoilers)

sfz_T-car · Post by **sfz_T-car** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:37 pm

RobVarak wrote: "We have to start to be the cynical Italians," said the Juventus defender. "The secret to going a long way in the tournament is to . . . rediscover some of the typical defensive approach found in Italian football culture."

Scoop's not gonna like this one bit. Good thing the article didn't say anything about Canavaro's hair.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:19 pm

Personally I'm beginning to be more confident of an Italian victory than I am of a USA win. Ghana will be tough, though the abscence of Gyan boosts the US' chances. I'd say 60-40 chance of US winning.

For the Italy match, I think Italy will be under a lot of pressure to have a bounce-back performance. Even bigger will be the fact that only 3 points can guarantee avoiding a nightmare second round matchup with Brazil, as if they win they can guarantee playing Australia/Croatia. Combine that with how shorthanded the Czechs with injuries and suspensions, and I like Italy's chances.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:20 pm

Ghana spends pre-USA game press conference talking about playing Brazil in 2nd round

Linkage

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:44 pm

Naples39 wrote:Ghana spends pre-USA game press conference talking about playing Brazil in 2nd round

Linkage

Well, they are a confident bunch. When you outplay a very good team in the Czechs, anything is possible.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:38 am

I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight LOL

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:39 am

RobVarak wrote:I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight LOL

A 12 pack and the last 100 years of Cub highlights should do the trick

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 1:47 am

XXXIV wrote:
RobVarak wrote:I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight LOL
A 12 pack and the last 100 years of Cub highlights should do the trick

Good advice, but I'm going to go with a bottle of cheap blackberry brandy and the FA Cup Final on my DVR. We'll see how that works out.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:39 am

It's almost soccer time!

USA USA USA !!!!!!

anyone else going to watch live today? if so lets post our thoughts throught out the game, but in the spoilers thread.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:40 am

Is it normal to not be able to breathe for a half hour before kick-off?

sfz_T-car · Post by **sfz_T-car** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:16 am

Here's a fun/stupid little website that generates a Brazilian name and replica shirt based on your real name.

http://www.minimalsworld.net/BrazilName/brazilian.shtml

The page has loaded semi-reliably, but it supposedly has been moved to a new server.

Me? Just call me Zairo

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:31 am

Argh, wrong WC post.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:23 am

The Real WC starts tomorrow with Argentina facing Mexico and the Hosts facing the Swedes. I think Argentina should advance, some of the A team players will be back but it won't be easy.

Germany should also advance in a close match.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:49 am

Am I the only soccer fan in here whose interest in this tournament is being neutered by the day due to FIFA's mandate for refs to display more cards, which is creating a vicious circle of cynical play?

Refs are issuing cards like guys on Vegas street corners handing out flyers for strip joints. So in return, teams are using the dive as a tactic excessively, and it's just creating a very cynical, negative tournament, in my opinion.

FIFA just flat-out f*cked up here. Why use the great quadrennial tournament as the litmus test for tougher officiating? Why not use various championships leading up to the World Cup to warn players of the new world order of officiating? It would be like the NHL only implementing its new officiating standard in the recently completed Stanley Cup playoffs instead of instituting it during the regular season. Yeah, I know FIFA doesn't control domestic and continental tournaments, but ...

Argentina still is playing flowing football, but it is using the dive as a tactic too much. Ironically, one of the few teams left playing very pleasing football without resorting to the dive over and over again is Germany.

Exciting football from a German national team -- I thought that was an oxymoron!

Either way, unless there are some incredibly good games over the next 13 days, this tournament is going to be remembered more for the horrid officiating than for glorious play on the field, and that's sad.

I would give my left nut for one game in which there was great football and no talk about the poor officiating afterward. Wishful thinking to this point, but I have hope.

Take care,
PK

mobiggins · Post by **mobiggins** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:03 pm

I completely agree. The refs have outright decided way too many games in this tournament.

The thing that pisses me off the most is how yellow cards have equal weight not only within a match, but from match to match. I think yellows should get knocked a couple notches down so that you actually need three over the course of a tournament to get suspended a game, instead of two. There's no reason why bad refereeing decisions in one game should cost players in their next games as well.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:15 pm

Yep. Thought we were finaly going to get a good solid game in with the Italy Aussie game. It started of well for i think 30 mins and i was thinking , oh maybe they watched the Ned Portugal game and seen what a disgrace the whole thing was, the players were getting stuck in on tackles and the recipient would bounce back up and carry on no card no nothing , a blow of the whistle and of we go again.

Alas the ref stepped in with the cards.
I cant say ive enjoyed the world cup much , said it after day 2 i believe and its only gotten worse.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:20 pm

Jimmydeicide wrote:I cant say ive enjoyed the world cup much , said it after day 2 i believe and its only gotten worse.

Agreed, Jimmy. You were the prophet among us.

I remember how people dismissed your rant as idle whining on Day 2. Well, you were right all along.

Hopefully something will change in the next 13 days. I actually wouldn't mind seeing Germany win the World Cup now since it seems to be the only competent, exciting team that is playing above the quagmire of diving.

Note I said competent and exciting, which excludes England from any discussion.

Seriously, I just can't believe there's not more worldwide media outcry about this. Sure, some pundits and columnists are moaning about the cards, but I've read or heard no one saying it's ruining the tournament, which it most definitely is.

Take care,
PK

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:25 pm

Like the new NHL rules this year, the players need to adjust. If you look at the Italy/USA game and the Portugal/Netherlands games the officiating has been horrible. Outside of those 2 games I can't really complain with the refs. Sure, more cards are being called, but the players need to adapt to how the game is called. I do agree, though, that this s*** should have been started durikng qualifiers and not the World Cup. Despite the officiating I'm still absolutely loving the World Cup.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:52 pm

Marcello Balboa and John Harkes had said it as well and they are right. The refs are too quick to pull out the yellow. And the players know this, that's way they are flopping all over the place. The refs don't seem to be quick to pull out the yellow for diving, however.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:12 pm

JRod wrote:Marcello Balboa and John Harkes had said it as well and they are right. The refs are too quick to pull out the yellow. And the players know this, that's way they are flopping all over the place. The refs don't seem to be quick to pull out the yellow for diving, however.

BINGO.

Scoop, the enforcement isn't what's bothering me as much as how it has caused diving to be used as a primary tactic by many teams. That's nothing new in the annals of soccer, but it sure seems to be amplified in this tournament.

Where the hell is Roy Keane when we really need him, standing over a player who took a dive and screaming, "GET THE F*CK UP, YOU F*CKING C*NT!" I'm not kidding, either.

I'm enjoying some of the football, but I just know it could be so much better. There has been some lovely play, such as Joe Cole and Maxi Rodriguez's screaming goals off the volley and Cambiasso's goal after 24 consecutive Argentine passes. Germany's offense also has been a reveleation.

Still, the lasting memory of this World Cup so far is either a red or yellow plastic card held in the air, players sailing through the air for no reason or writhing on the ground in fake pain, not beautiful play. That's a shame.

Take care,
PK

jimd · Post by **jimd** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:46 pm

pk500 wrote:
JRod wrote:Marcello Balboa and John Harkes had said it as well and they are right. The refs are too quick to pull out the yellow. And the players know this, that's way they are flopping all over the place. The refs don't seem to be quick to pull out the yellow for diving, however.
BINGO.

Scoop, the enforcement isn't what's bothering me as much as how it has caused diving to be used as a primary tactic by many teams. That's nothing new in the annals of soccer, but it sure seems to be amplified in this tournament.

Where the hell is Roy Keane when we really need him, standing over a player who took a dive and screaming, "GET THE F*CK UP, YOU F*CKING C*NT!" I'm not kidding, either.

I'm enjoying some of the football, but I just know it could be so much better. There has been some lovely play, such as Joe Cole and Maxi Rodriguez's screaming goals off the volley and Cambiasso's goal after 24 consecutive Argentine passes. Germany's offense also has been a reveleation.

Still, the lasting memory of this World Cup so far is either a red or yellow plastic card held in the air, not beautiful play. That's a shame.

Take care,
PK

IMO diving is a major reason Americans do not embrace the game. While many of us here watch EPL where there is virtually no diving, the majority of Americans "feeling out" the game do so by watching the World Cup. When they see the diving and the subsequent rolling around like they have a kidney stone thing going on, they are immediately turned-off. The whole "soccer is for wimps" dynamic is fostered.

To me there is an easy solution to the problem. While it's hard to catch diving with the naked eye, it's pretty appparent/clear on replay. After the game, officials should review the tapes and "divers/cheaters" get suspended for two/three games, end of story. Players would stop diving after about three or four of these suspensions were handed out.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:52 pm

pk500 wrote:Still, the lasting memory of this World Cup so far is either a red or yellow plastic card held in the air, players sailing through the air for no reason or writhing on the ground in fake pain, not beautiful play. That's a shame.

The diving is a real turnoff to a casual fan such as myself. I can't determine if these guys are the toughest bastards on the planet because they are taken off on a stretcher one minute and back on the pitch 2 minutes later or if they are the biggest pussies on the planet for failing to get up right away from something similar to what happens a million times during an American football game. I'm tending to think they are p*ssies or cheaters.

Someone got hurt in the one of the games (I think it was England/Equador) I was watching recently and he was so hurt that they couldn't move him...they had to play around him laying near the backline, but yet he was back in and playing 2 minutes later. If I would have pulled that sh*t back in my neighborhood playground as a teenager in a basketball or football game, I had "friends" that would have made sure that the next time I would *really* not be able to stand up for 10 minutes.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:59 pm

Exactly, JimD and Leebo. And it's why the further this World Cup progresses, the more I can't wait for the second weekend of August when the Premiership starts.

There's not nearly as much diving in the EPL as there is in the World Cup. And I hope foreign players that come into the EPL learn the "English way" instead of spreading diving like barnacles all over the EPL.

Dave, Jimmy, Simo, do you see more diving in the EPL in the last decade due to the explosion of foreign players? If so, has it reached a level where we should be concerned that the EPL will resemble this World Cup?

Interested on your take, as you guys have forgotten more about the beautiful game than I'll probably ever know.

Thanks,
PK

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:27 pm

jimd wrote: To me there is an easy solution to the problem. While it's hard to catch diving with the naked eye, it's pretty appparent/clear on replay. After the game, officials should review the tapes and "divers/cheaters" get suspended for two/three games, end of story. Players would stop diving after about three or four of these suspensions were handed out.

This absolutely has to happen. Zeppo was saying the same thing yesterday. Much like the NFL will punish players who weren't penalized during the game, there should be post-game reviews.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:35 pm

Agree with you cats completely.

Take care,
PK

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:37 pm

Maybe we should get Di Canio out there to shove a ref or two?